ShortCircuit

There is bromance between the BFFs (of the not romantic kind.) They risk their lives for the other based on their friendship and AGAIN, with no romantic undertones. Pure, simple friendship.

Also, outsiders too risk their lives and livelihoods for the greater good (and for the better of the BFFs, LOL) again with no expectation of anything in kind in return. Though there is ham in those outsiders' future :D Maybe they're motivated by the expectation of getting ham.

This is wholesome and nice. Friendship is possible between MLs :D

PS I wouldn't vouch for the cat, though. Cats are devious.

Edit: For something along the same note, you might also check out A League of Nobleman.

He wasn't in the focus so much, not that he wasn't well written. He was... mostly retired. The focus was on the villain, and he - the villain - wasn't that enticing in the first place.

Under the Microscope (2023). 14 eps, period mystery drama (no emperors or higher power plays), amazing plot and amazing execution, great cast, good re-watch value, great music. I'd love to watch more like this one.

TBH, I couldn't tell...

Wasn't that the detective visiting ML's mom's memorial site?

Under the Microscope (cdrama). It's period/costume mystery (not wuxia/xianxia either), short, to the point, beautifully executed,

If she died in the taxi, wouldn't Yeong Min know about it? He'd be interested in whatever circumstances he'd dig up and I don't think he's miss the passenger, even if not focusing on them.

There's that strange phone he found in the taxi and put aside somewhere, I think she's actually connected to the phone, not the car.

Second episode is better than the first - once they decided they wanted to do a warm healing story instead of just frustrating mystery.

What use is the SML? He barely had 5 minutes all together in both eps.

PS Why is the detective so obsessed with a hit and run? Will there be a deeper meaning to this? Hmm.

And non-spoilery, if you're asking for a drama that is not necessarily BL-themed, but more of a whole experience... Then Nirvana in Fire might fill that gap. It's not BL but there are elements of bromance, and it's a glorious feast of pain and soul ache but also of success against the odds. It was my dark horse drama of the year's end, and the second season (not directly related) is also great. It's very slow in comparison, but it is worth all the time it's taking to get where it's going.

Also, for xianxia, (but with more het romance), maybe Love and Redemption. For wuxia, Hero (2002 movie), or Sword Snow Stride, or Joy of Life. Maybe even Ever Night, the first season at least. For xuanhuan, maybe Duoluo Continent. (There are newer ones, but I haven't watched all that many YET). Though I'm watching Warm on a Cold Night right now and so far it's been pretty good :D

For modern-day youth romance, Lighter and Princess. For sci-fi themed, definitely Reset. For isekai, then The Romance of Tiger and Rose, LOL.

I've kept this to Chinese dramas, but there might be another list for kdramas too LOL.

Watch the donghua :D (same voice actors, same story, in a different order a bit more faithful to the novel, a lot more impressive special effects. Also, complete :D And there are quite a few more bits of WangXian that made it through. For example, drunk Lan Zhan tying up Wei WuXian's hands and displaying it proudly to the juniors LOL. There are also lots of more zombies, err, fierce corpses per square meter than in the drama LOL).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m346FShZ5Dc

For more (censored BL) coming from China, Word of Honor is the right rec. It was so brazen (but seriously, it's censored and the novel it's based on is not even so out in the open as the drama, LOL) that it got the whole genre put on soft ban for about two years now LOL. It's worth it. And it's wuxia for real this time (despite some zombies, I guess c-web novel authors like zombies for some reason :D)

A cute FMV to let you see how brazen, LOL : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7idnHG6QJnM

And a more serious (and dynamic) one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw6cQxEwVI8

Also, The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty is another (censored BL) nice one. It's a bit more humour-toned and there's really not much more than a few looks and an intimate understanding between the MCs, nowhere close TU or WOH, but it's still extremely good.

Seriously, they're cute :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3uDnvIY710

Here's a comparison (the fourth pairing is from Guardian): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icGyEwDdsYA

For more rotten flavour (which means BL, censored or almost in the open, but not the way Thai BL can be, just a flavour really), you can try The Devil Judge (kdrama, it's not BL but there's this lingering aftertaste, LOL, they weren't subtle at ALL), Under the Skin (cdrama, it's touch and go mostly, but they kept it safe, waiting for maybe a second season), A League of Nobleman (just released, it's NOT BL, and the novel it's based on never was either, but there's this interesting DYNAMIC between the MCs :D)

PS Killer and Healer doesn't have a HEA, so... just be warned.

On ep 8 - OMG, the howling... the HOWLING :D

If I ever watch this drama, it'll be because of the beautiful soundtrack. I wonder if the song writer(s) is/are the same as for The Blue Whisper, the OSTs feel very similar (but both are beautiful).

The story and cast... I don't know yet. But going by the music only it would be an yes.

TBH, the first ep (of just 12 in the series) felt pretty slow to me. The setup is nothing new, so there was no need to spend so much time showing the ML just trying to drive a taxi in order to pay debts. It took the whole ep just to reach some kind of decision on what's next.

I hope the next ep moves a bit faster, or else it'll be a not-much happening drama with a plot that might be too stretched out to count.

I got a bit too attached to Zhao Kai, to tell the truth, LOL. He had evil vibes, and was pretty stalkery to his "future wife", but his yearning to become somebody important was kind of endearing, despite the ways he chose to make that happen. I wonder how he would've grown if he was raised by anybody else - maybe even Xu Xiao - rather than Han DiaoSi. So yup, I'm sad he had to go. I had hopes he and XFN could become besties - and why not, BILs, LOL.

OMG Huangman'er's force is seriously over-powered. That final scene where he's ripping off arms... wow. I want to see some more berserk fighting from him in the future! :D

Where was Zoey Meng?! I didn't recognize her character. Did it flash past me that fast, or was it a short-time appearing character, too?

(Which reminds me again of Han HaoLin. Wow. Just wow!)

Overall, a very good wuxia drama. I hope the next seasons do come, and come fast enough that they manage to keep the same cast. Here's hoping!

When it was good, it was great. Some of the actors are absolutely amazing - my favourite this first season is the short-time appearing Han HaoLin (Finn Han), playing Zhao XuanSu. He's incredible, this kid is going places (I couldn't believe his composure and control of microemotions, he's barely 13!) Truly one to watch for in the future.

While I loved the wuxia (amazing fighting scenes) and the production values are superlative, there were some sticky parts (mainly in some parts of the plot, which, considering this is a seasonal drama, isn't surprising).

ZRY never disappoints, though. I decided to watch this drama based on a random scene (the WuDi City drinking scene) I've watched months ago. Everything going there was a whole ride, so to speak, and I loved XFN's arc. I would still have loved more background on some characters, so that their relations to the rest of the story would have been easier to understand, but oh well. That might be my own shortcoming.

The soundtrack is okay, nothing special sadly (OSTs are a big part of what I appreciate in a drama). The effects are absolutely amazing and the scenery is breathtaking. I want to visit most of those places, LOL.

And I'm kind of mad some characters won't return in the future...

Looks pretty good - won't be expecting much of a mystery/thriller, going by the OP and ED it's more of a romance, but they look good together, the FX are well done (so far anyway) and BWJ's styling makes him look very handsome. We'll see how it goes on.

Going by the first ep only, LOL, she's hot and he's cold :D Edit Welp, it's the other way around LOL.

https://www.viki.com/tv/36775c-some-day-or-one-day?qId=390ce6f170a78c626025c504cc4f2d03

It's not available in my own region, but maybe it is in yours.

The husband (Baek Hee Sung) is hiding his actual identity of Do Hyun Soo, who is a wanted person suspected of being an accomplice to a serial killer or a killer himself. The wife is a cop and doesn't know anything about his actual past, as he's met and wedded her after changing his identity.

Accidentally, a former friend of DHS's visits his workshop and recognizes him, and rumours about DHS being located are starting to rise enough that the police catches wind of it. So the wife is assigned to the team that is searching for DHS.

DHS is neurodivergent (he doesn't recognize or is able to express emotions, though he does feel them and he studies mimicking normal reactions so that he passes as normal to his family and friends.) Through a game of circumstances, he is impersonating the actual accomplice of his father (the serial killer), who fell into a coma while trying to kill DHS (it's complicated), with the full help and backing of said killer's actual parents.

As the police is coming closer to finding DHS, Cha JiWon (the wife) is starting to notice things and put hints together but has to keep it hidden from both her suspect husband and from her own police team.

And then the killer's accomplice wakes up from his coma and decides he's going to finish all unfinished business, including getting rid of DHS.

Do consider giving it a try, it's pretty good :D

It's not a love story, it's a melo-thriller. The romance part was novel as in the MLs are established as a romantic pair from the very beginning (husband and wife). There were later a few more dramas trying that kind of story on (spouses keeping huge secrets from each other) but I don't think any became so hot as FoE.

There's an amazing chemistry between LJG and MCW, and the support cast holds up their side of the story well, too (particularly the rest of the main cast and the main villain). The melo part is pretty well done (this, coming from someone who doesn't really appreciate melo all that much, LOL), the thriller part is pretty thrilling (especially the unspoken parts), the action is also pretty good (LJG is good on action scenes), the music is amazing (I love this drama's OST).

So IMHO it deserves its rating. (Keeping in mind that MDL has a bias towards kdramas, who are usually more higher rated than dramas from other countries that would also deserve high ratings and more viewership. Also IMHO).

If you haven't watched FoE, it's worth a try, at least.

(Also, I, myself haven't cried watching it, but there ARE heartbreaking moments, particularly in the later parts of the drama, where I did tear up. Just a bit :D)

Ep 21 is a whole wuxia movie all by itself.